Omni-directional vision systems have been investigated for a variety of fields, including surveillance, robotic navigation, and entertainment purposes. There have been many approaches to omni-directional, or panoramic, vision including moving cameras, wide-angle lenses, and curved mirrors.
While panoramic imaging methods have become increasingly popular in the commercial world, there is room for considerable improvement. For the most part, these systems are not space efficient, limiting their potential applications. Oftentimes, complications of having moving parts arise, increasing malfunctions and breakages. Furthermore, the use of wide-angle lenses and mirrors results in image distortions.